Global marketing consultancy R3 has produced its half-year 2016 round-up of new business wins among both creative and media agencies with Omnicom the clear winner overall, led by its media agency PHD. WPP’s Ogilvy is the top creative agency.

R3’s numbers also show that while there are more creative pitches – “Roster-palooza” – this year than last the revenue is less whereas fewer media pitches account for higher revenue.

Since the half year concluded Omnicom has spectacularly increased its new business performance by winning AT&T’s $4bn media business which has moved from WPP’s MEC to its new media network Hearts & Science (which also handles P&G in the US). Omnicom’s BBDO has won AT&T’s DirecTV creative account from WPP’s Grey.

R3 has collected and individually ranked more than 3,700 new business wins across creative, media and digital agencies globally this year, noting a six per cent increase overall in activity, covering more than $1.2b in revenue. “Despite all the headlines for last year’s reviews, we’ve seen more overall activity this year across the board,” says Greg Paull (left), principal and co-founder of R3.

Ogilvy leads amongst creative and digital agencies

R3 reviewed more than 2,200 account moves across more than 310 creative, media and digital agencies. WPP’s Ogilvy led the way in terms of revenue. “Ogilvy had a positive start to the year, securing increased business from Motorola and GSK, as well as leveraging their different divisions better than the other agency groups,” says Paull. Dentsu’s McGarrybowen was in second place, followed by IPG’s McCann Erickson. “Mcgarrybowen has done a remarkable job, securing United Airlines, JC Penny and others – despite its narrow global footprint.”

VML was the leading digital agency in the list, coming in seventh. “The lines are blurring between creative and digital agencies and VML’s full service Wendy’s win was testament to that,” Paull says.

PHD on top for media agencies

R3 reviewed more than 1,400 wins from 80 different media agencies to build a comparative performance of new business analysis. “PHD is on top through Volkswagen – a major realignment that has made Omnicom’s year,” says Paull. In second place was GroupM – not the four GroupM agencies combined, but rather the holding group for three big wins – Target, IKEA and Westpac Australia.

Omnicom leads by holding group

When R3 combines the annualized revenue of creative and media agencies through the first six months, Omnicom leads the way among all holding groups, courtesy of strong performances from PHD and OMD as well as DDB and GSD&M. “This is the first time WPP has been out of the top position in this report, reflecting the losses of Volkswagen and others,” says Paull. “We expect by year’s end, their collective agencies will close the gap with Omnicom and Dentsu,” he added.

Is 2016 the year of the “Roster-palooza”?

R3 already reported in February this year that it seemed likely marketers would be more active in reviewing and adding to their creative agency rosters through 2016 – and to date this appears to be the case. R3 notes 20 per cent less revenue than 2015 for creative and digital new business wins, but 30 per cent more reviews – suggesting more and more agencies chasing smaller assignments.

One year on from the Mediapalooza, and the number of reviews has not reduced for media agencies significantly. Initial trends show that with Volkswagen, Sony, IKEA and others all making decisions in the first half of this year, media agency new business revenue has actually increased by 16 per cent.

R3 produce this information on a monthly basis. The full reports by region and country can be seen here.

About R3

R3 is a leading global, regional and local consultancy group, focused on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of marketers and their agencies. We enable our clients to get the competitive edge and a better return on investment from agencies, media and marketing spend. With over 100 people in the US, Asia, EMEA and LATAM, we work with nine of the world’s top twenty marketers including Coca-Cola, Unilever, AB InBev, MasterCard, Mercedes Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung and Kimberly Clark.

About Stephen Foster

Stephen is a former editor of Marketing Week and London Evening Standard advertising columnist. He wrote City Republic for Brand Republic and is a partner in communications consultancy The Editorial Partnership.